She still can’t get it out of her head.
In Jun2019, Rainer marched in the National Puerto Rican Parade in New York City after winning the scholarship.
It’s the Bible verse from Luke 12:48: To whom much is given, much is required. But she didn’t know those eight words came from the Bible. She spotted them when she was a freshman at High Point University. She walked into the Hayworth Fine Arts Center to attend the Life Skills Seminar taught by HPU President Dr. Nido Qubein and looked up.
Right beyond the entrance were those eight words.
She thinks about those words today because the New Testament verse encapsulates her personal mission since coming to HPU. She’s helped create the university’s first two Latinx student organizations, studied abroad in Chile for HPU’s 2019 Maymester Program, and has become an important voice for diversity and inclusion on campus.
Sydney Sullivan always wanted to help.
So, as the vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion with the Student Government Association, she drafted a five-year plan that would help High Point University recruit and keep more students of color. She researched, talked with students, staff and faculty and came up with Initiative 2025.
She showed it to Dr. Doug Hall, HPU’s assistant vice president for diversity and inclusion, and Terry Chavis, director of multicultural affairs. Together, they and other student leaders presented her plan to HPU President Dr. Nido Qubein.
Sullivan’s work impressed Hall and Qubein. They along with others on campus have been working on those very issues. Yet, when they read what Sullivan came up with, they saw synergy. They also saw the power of what one student can do.